Jules Bennett - Expectant Princess, Unexpected Affair

“After all we’ve been through with our father, don’t you think we all deserve some happiness? Besides, nothing is predetermined. Your life is what you make of it.”

“That’s what I’m worried about. Up until now, I’ve made a mess of it. Especially my love life.”

“That was just bad luck. You just happened to meet a string of jerks. But anyone who knows Sam will tell you he’s a great guy. And he’ll be a fantastic husband and father.”

Anne didn’t doubt that at all. She never would have accepted his proposal otherwise. It was herself she was worried about. For the first time in her life she had a real shot at happiness—and she was terrified that she would find a way to screw it up.

“I’m sure you’re right,” she told Louisa.

“Of course I am,” she said, as if there was never a doubt. Her relentless optimism never ceased to amaze Anne.

After Louisa went back to her room, Anne changed into her softest pajamas and crawled into bed, but her mind was still moving a million miles an hour and she was practically bursting with excitement. Thinking that a cup of tea might soothe her nerves, she climbed out of bed and put on her robe. The halls of the castle were silent but for the muffled wail of a baby crying from Chris and Melissa’s room. Five months from now Anne could look forward to the same. She and Sam, she reminded herself with a smile.

She expected the kitchen to be empty and was surprised, when she switched on the light, to find their butler, Geoffrey, sitting at the butcher-block table. He squinted at the sudden bright light.

“I’m sorry,” Anne said. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“No need to apologize,” he said. His jacket was draped over the back of his chair and his tie hung loose around his neck. In front of him sat a bottle of scotch and a half-full highball glass. “What brings you down here at this late hour, Your Highness?”

“Couldn’t sleep. I thought I would make some tea.”

“You should have called down,” he scolded. “I’d have brought it to you.”

“I didn’t want to bother you.”

He rose and gestured to an empty chair. “Sit. I’ll make it for you.”

Because this was Geoffrey’s domain, and he could be a little territorial, she did as he asked. She gestured to his drink and said, “Rough day?”

“Worse than some, better than others.” He put the kettle on to boil. “How about you? “

“Actually, I had a very good day.”

He pulled a cup down from the cupboard and dropped a tea bag in. “Would that have something to do with a certain young man and that ring on your finger?”

“It might.” She should have realized he would notice the ring. Geoffrey didn’t miss a thing. He may have been getting up in years, but he was still sharp as a tack. He had been with the family since before she was born and in some ways she had come to think of him as a second father. As far as she knew he had no family of his own, no one to care for him if he ever became incapacitated. But after so many years of loyal service, he would always have a place at the castle with the royal family.

“I suppose you heard about the baby.”

“I might have,” he said cryptically, but knowing him, he’d probably suspected all along.

“Are you disappointed in me?”

“If you had murdered someone, I would have been disappointed in you. A child is a blessing.”

“Yes, but I know you have … traditional values.”

He poured boiling water into her cup then set it on the table in front of her. “Then I suppose you’ll be surprised to learn that I was once in a similar situation.”

Surprised? For a moment she was too stunned to even respond. She never knew him to have a girlfriend, much less a pregnant one. He’d never spoken of any family. “I—I had no idea.”

He sat across from her. “It was many years ago. Before I came to work here.”

“You have a child?”

He nodded. “His name is Richard.”

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

He shrugged, swirling the amber liquid in his glass. “It isn’t something I like to talk about.”

“Do you see him?”

He shook his head, looking remorseful. “Not for many years.”

“What happened?”

He downed the last of his drink then poured himself another. She wondered if the alcohol was responsible for his sudden loose tongue. He looked so sad. And when had he gotten so old? It was as though the lines on his face had appeared overnight. Or maybe she just hadn’t wanted to see them.

“His mother was a cook for my previous employer,” he told her. “We had an affair and she became pregnant. I did the responsible thing and married her, but it didn’t take long to realize that we were completely incompatible. We stayed together for two years, then finally divorced. But working together was unpleasant for both of us, so we decided it would be best if I left and found a new job. That was when I came to work here.”

“When did you stop seeing your son?”

“When he was six his mother remarried. At first I was jealous, but this man was good to Richard. He treated him like his own son. A year later he was offered a position in England. I objected at first, but my ex pointed out what was obvious. I didn’t have time for my son and his stepfather did. She convinced me that it would be best if I let him go.”

“That must have been devastating for you.”

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I tried to keep in touch with phone calls and letters, but we drifted apart. I think he just didn’t need me any longer.”

He looked so sad that tears burned the corners of Anne’s eyes. She reached out and placed a hand on top of his. Learning this was such a shock. Had she never considered that he had a life that she knew nothing about? Had she believed his life hadn’t really begun until he’d come to work for them? That his world was so small and insignificant? “I’m so sorry, Geoffrey.”

Even his eyes looked a bit misty. “I was saddened, but by then I had you and your siblings to chase around. Only now I fear I made a terrible mistake by letting him go.”

He looked so sad it made her want to hug him. “You did what you thought was best. And that doesn’t mean you can’t try to contact him now. Do you have any idea where he lives? What he does for a living?”

“The last time I talked to his mother, he was serving as a Royal Marine Commando.”

“Goodness! That’s impressive.”

“She bragged that he was some sort of computer genius. But that was more than ten years ago.”

“You could at least try to look him up.”

He rubbed his thumb around the rim of his glass. “What if I do, and I don’t like what I find?”

She wondered why he would think a thing like that. He should at least try to find him.

Geoffrey swallowed the last of his drink and looked at his watch. “It’s nearly midnight. I should turn in. And so should you, young lady.”

She smiled. He hadn’t called her that in years. “Yes, sir.”

As he walked past her to his quarters behind the kitchen he patted her shoulder. She was struck by how his capable hands were beginning to look wrinkled and bony.

She looked down and realized she hadn’t taken a single sip of her tea, and now it had gone cold.

The king had been out of the public eye for such a long period of time that Sam was genuinely stunned when he saw him the following afternoon. Though he knew the king was in ill health, never had he expected him to look so pale and fragile. Practically swimming in too-large flannel pajamas and a bulky robe—that Sam was sure had probably fit him at one time—the king looked painfully thin and small. A mere shell of the larger-than-life figure he used to be. And it was obvious that the months of sitting at his side had visibly taken their toll on Anne’s mother. The queen looked utterly exhausted and beaten down. Her features, once bright and youthful, now looked drawn and tired, as though she had aged a decade in only months.